Rethinking the Nexus between Youth, Unemployment and Conflict – Perspectives from Sri Lanka

This series of four country case studies explores the ways in which the economic causes, drivers and impacts of conflict have been tackled in different ways in a number of conflict-affected countries where Alert works. The aim is to encourage cross-country learning, and inform what has become a vibrant international debate in the last few years on how to adapt economic development interventions to conflict contexts, to make them conflict-sensitive, and able to support longer-term peacebuilding. In Sri Lanka several policy initiatives in the past have not led to significant reforms or changes in dynamics that exclude young people from both political and economic spheres in society. The report argues that more nuance is needed in the frequently made argument that ‘youth unemployment causes armed conflict’. This needs to reflect both the multiple factors feeding young people’s frustrations and grievances in conflict contexts; and the multiple barriers young people face in entering the job market.